The Poor Lads Are Tired

So the excuse for last night’s pathetic display is apparently tiredness.

Bearing in mind that Ipswich played at 4 on Sunday afternoon, we played at 12.45 on Saturday and they lost 7-0 they must be superhuman. Wenger has been “rotating” his team over the last few weeks and still they are tired whereas we all know the truth is that it is all down to attitude. Last night they clearly assumed the game was over before it started and when Ipswich refused to play ball they couldn’t be bothered to even try and raise their game. Now I read that our “captain” is upset because Ipswich, a team 19th in the Championship played a long ball game – now there’s something we haven’t come across before.

As far as I’m concerned there is no reason why footballers should not be able to play 2 games per week. In 1971 we played 64 games in all competitions and most players took part in at least 55 of those games. Now I know the game is much faster and more technical these days but surely players are much fitter now with the no alcohol and no smoking regimes and better diet and the game was far more physical in 1971. I believe that today’s players hear managers saying how difficult it is to play more than 1 game per week and start to feel psychologically tired before the game begins and then it’s convenient to just accept it’s not their day and not put in the sort of effort the Ipswich players showed.

Another worrying point is what has happened to the youngsters we used to play in the Carling Cup who always gave everything. There were none in last night’s squad and some of you may have noticed the reserves lost 10-1 to Aston Villa recently and one wonders whether the future is as bright as Wenger would have us believe.

Clearly we have a first team that is capable of beating anyone but the squad is way below that necessary to win almost anything, including maybe the Carling Cup. I won’t name individual players as everyone knows who they are but I will repeat that there is no leadership at the club at the moment from the Manager down and nothing will be achieved until this is addressed.

End of today’s rant – looking forward to the Wigan game!